Arginine vasopressin (AVP) is a nonapeptide expressed in several brain regions. In addition to its well-characterized role in osmoregulation, AVP regulates paternal behavior, aggression,circadian rhythms, and the stress response. In the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), AVP gene expression is tightly regulated by gonadal steroid hormones. However, the degree by which AVP is regulated b...

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) has been shown to promote the disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the formation of edema in various animal models of brain injury. However, the source(s) of this AVP have not been identified. Since the cerebral cortex was considerably affected in some of these brain injury models, we sought to determine if AVP was produced in the cerebral cortex, and, if s...

Vasopressin (AVP) magnocellular neurons of hypothalamic nuclei express specific phasic firing (successive periods of activity and silence), which conditions the mode of neurohypophyseal vasopression release. In situations favoring plasmatic secretion of AVP, the hormone is also released at the somatodendritic level, at which it is believed to modulate the activity of AVP neurons. We investigate...

The neuropeptide arginine vasopressin (AVP) can replace the cytokine interleukin 2 (IL-2) as a T-cell mitogen for the induction of interferon gamma (IFN gamma) expression in splenic cultures. IL-2-like and IL-2 receptor immunoreactivity have been reported in different brain regions, under normal and pathophysiological conditions. Regulatory functions for IL-2 in the CNS have been suggested. In ...

Vasopressin (AVP), the antidiuretic hormone, is a cyclic nonapeptide that acts through binding to G protein-coupled specific membrane receptors pharmacologically divided into three subtypes (V1a, V1b, and V2) linked to distinct second messengers. Within the family of human AVP receptors, the V2 AVP receptor has been cloned, but the structure of the human V1a and V1b AVP receptors remains unknow...

Current scientific literature generally attributes the vasoconstrictor effects of [Arg(8)]vasopressin (AVP) to the activation of phospholipase C (PLC) and consequent release of Ca(2+) from the sarcoplasmic reticulum. However, half-maximal activation of PLC requires nanomolar concentrations of AVP, whereas vasoconstriction occurs when circulating concentrations of AVP are orders of magnitude low...

BACKGROUND Arginine vasopressin (AVP) and terlipressin were proposed as alternatives to catecholamines in shock states characterized by decreased plasma AVP concentrations. The endogenous plasma AVP profile in anaphylactic shock is unknown. In an ovalbumin-sensitized anesthetized anaphylactic shock rat model, the authors investigated (1) plasma AVP concentrations and (2) the dose versus mean ar...

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) has been implicated in a wide variety of social behaviors ranging from affiliation to aggression. However, the precise functional involvement of AVP in intermale aggression is still a matter of debate. In fact, very little is known about AVP release patterns within distinct brain regions during the display of intermale aggression and, in turn, the behavioral consequen...

Vasopressin-immunoreactive (AVP-ir) cells in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and medial amygdaloid nucleus (MA) and their AVP-ir projections to the lateral septum were studied in monogamous prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) and promiscuous meadow voles (M. pennsylvanicus). A sexually dimorphic AVP-ir pathway was found in both species; males had more AVP-ir cells in the BST and ...

Male prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) form a pair bond with a female partner after mating, and this behavior is regulated by the neuropeptide vasopressin (AVP). The authors report that AVP in the lateral septum is important for pair bond formation. Administration of an AVP V1a receptor antagonist in the lateral septum blocked mating-induced pair bonding, whereas administration of AVP induce...